crayons, crawling, & craziness

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This Wasn’t Supposed to Be Bath Day

Tonight at dinner, as Chica leaned toward her plate of pizza, I noticed something in the part of her blonde little head. It was orange. Like spray tan orange. And since I’m sure she hadn’t found any spray tan in kindergarten or at home, there could be only one other cause for this: playground dirt. Lovely.

So together Daddy and I tried to explain the importance of not throwing dirt at school. I’m pretty sure all of the best grown up reasons for not throwing dirt don’t really translate to a five year old: Mommy will have to bathe you every day instead of the slacker routine of every other (or more?!?) day. And that orange tint never really washes out of your clothes. Or mainly just because you really don’t want to be “that kid.”

So while I was busy bathing both kids on this usual no-bath day, I had a few minutes to think. Mainly I thought about how many memories I’ve let slip away because I haven’t been writing lately. As I scrubbed out that orange glow, I made myself promise I’d jot a few recent memories down tonight. The parent e-mails to compose and Jeopardy game to create and the science quizzes to grade and the guided notes to be typed can all wait. It will wait. So in no particular order…

*We bought deck furniture last weekend. We’ve eaten every dinner since Sunday out there. And when dinner is done, Chica asks to go play on the front porch. It’s like she has momentarily forgotten that we own a TV because it is so nice outside. Perfect.
*Tonight my two little people played together without arguing. I just sat and watched. Chica would throw the Frisbee down the hill. Bubba would chase after it and return it to her. Over and over and over. He didn’t seem to care at all that he was essentially playing fetch and the one doing all the work.
*Chica can all of a sudden make paper airplanes on her own. Daddy’s off the hook now.
*Last night Jay made me go to bed, and he did all the dishes. That is some real love right there.
*Bubba’s really developing his own little sense of humor these days. One night during his bedtime story he let out two really good toots in a row. Without skipping a beat, he says in his low, old man voice, “Funny.”
*The last two nights as we’ve read Good Night Moon, Bubba has insisted on finding the mouse on every single page. I was just about to write about how annoyed we both were by the fact that there was one page without a mouse, but I just found it! Ha! I can’t wait to show him tomorrow now.
*Chica insists on asking me every morning if I’m driving the speed limit. What’s up with that? One day when I told her no, she of course asked why. Stupidly, I said, “Cause we’re late, that’s why.” To which she replied, “Oh…so if you are late and in a rush, then it’s ok to go faster than the speed limit?” Well…ummmm…no. Ok, fine. I’ll slow down.
*Bubba is nearly two and still not sleeping through the night most nights. These days he walks himself into our room anywhere from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., rubs his cold hands on my arm, and says sweetly, “Hi, Mommy. Up please.” I don’t have the energy it takes to say no, so there are three of us in the bed at wake up time every morning. This too shall pass I guess.
*And finally…ever since Chica was really little, we’ve always had prayers as part of our bedtime routine. I do the same with Bubba now. At first he would just make whisper noises for a few moments and then give a big, hearty, “Amen!” when he was done. Later I realized that he was trying to copy some of the same things that I was praying. So guess how my prayers go these days? “Dear God, thank you for a good day. Thank you for Bubba. Please give Mommy peace tonight. Please give Mommy peace tomorrow.” So then, without fail, Bubba’s prayers sound like this: